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John Parry, a long time veteran of intercollegiate athletics, announced his retirement as the Director of Athletics at Cleveland State University, effective June 30, 2017.

During Parry's seven years as Director of Athletics at CSU, the Vikings captured 12 Horizon League championships, as well as the All Sports McCafferty Cup in 2012-13.

In addition, the men's basketball program earned four postseason berths, including two in the NIT and two in the CIT, while the women's basketball team played in the WNIT one time and the WBI once. Men's swimmer Phillip Sikatzki also earned All-American honors at the 2016 NCAA Championships with a fourth place finish in the 100 fly.

Parry coordinated the addition of staff in academic advising, athletic training, equipment and facilities, strength & conditioning and sports information, reorganized the athletic ticketing and marketing departments and worked to add coaching resources in softball, soccer and volleyball to help continue the growth of the department.

In the spring of 2015, Parry announced the addition of men’s lacrosse as the 17th varsity sport at CSU. The team began play this spring.

In addition, women’s track and field began competition this year as the 18th varsity sport.

Growth is nothing new to Parry, who oversaw an era of unparalleled success while serving as Director of Athletics at Butler from 1990 to 2006. Under Parry, Butler expanded its sports offerings, added and improved athletic facilities, and experienced its greatest single period of athletic achievement up until that time.

Butler captured its first Horizon League James J. McCafferty Trophy for all-sports excellence in 1996-97, and the Bulldogs repeated that honor in 1997-98, 1998-99, 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Parry was at the helm when Butler built the foundation of a men’s basketball program that culminated with NCAA title game appearances in 2010 and 2011. During Parry’s time in Indianapolis, the Bulldogs made five of the school’s first six NCAA Tournament appearances in men’s basketball, including a berth in the NCAA’s “Sweet 16” in 2003.

In addition, the men’s cross country team posted Butler’s highest NCAA finish up to that point with a fourth-place showing at the 2004 national meet, and Victoria Mitchell captured Butler’s first national championship in 73 years with a first place finish in the 3,000 meter steeplechase at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field meet.

A past member of the NCAA Division I Management Council (1997-2004) and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Issues Committee (2000-02), Parry was named the 2002-03 Central Region Division I-AA Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

He also served as a member of the Executive Committee of NACDA from 1998-2002.

In 2013-14, Parry served on the NCAA Leadership Council, a group of athletics directors, faculty athletics representatives and commissioners representing the 31 Division I conferences that served as an advisory body to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors.

A native of Marcellus, N.Y., he attended Brown University where he was a two-time All-Ivy League receiver and co-captain of the football team while also earning letters in basketball and lacrosse.

 Parry earned a B.A. in economics from Brown, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

After serving five years as an Assistant/Associate  AD and assistant football coach, Parry was named Director of Athletics at Brown in 1979, a position he held for 11 years until leaving for Butler in 1990.

Parry has two daughters, Alyson, a ‘91 graduate of Brown, and Jennifer, a ‘93 graduate of Middlebury College (Vermont).  He and his wife, Candis, who is a women’s lacrosse coach at Baldwin-Wallace, have a son, J.C., a 2014 graduate of Ursinus College, and a daughter, Ashley Elizabeth, a 2015 graduate of The College of Wooster.